CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is seeking people's thoughts and ideas for a proposed wild horse sanctuary north of Lander.

The sanctuary on the 900-acre Double D Ranch would be the second of its kind in Wyoming. The BLM recently helped to establish a wild horse sanctuary near Centennial in southeast Wyoming.

This new sanctuary would be located on the Wind River Indian Reservation and could take in as many as 250 horses.

The horses would be gathered from overpopulated herds in Wyoming and possibly elsewhere. The BLM is taking comments on the proposal during a scoping period that ends March 4.

Double D owner Dwayne Oldham is a former Wyoming state veterinarian. Oldham said he wants to help the BLM control wild horse numbers on Western rangelands.

SLED DOG RACE

Stage Stop Dog Sled Race competing in Lander

LANDER, Wyo. (AP) — Mushers and their dog teams are in Lander for the third stage of the Stage Stop Sled Dog Race.

Today's 42-mile stage begins at Louis Lake and should wrap up around 1 p.m.

Blayne Streeper of Fort Nelson, British Columbia is in first place after winning the first two stages. John Stewart of Salt Lake City is in second place.

The race will end Saturday in Evanston after covering nearly 350 miles in Wyoming and Montana. The overall winner will take home $100,000.

UW PROFESSOR HONORED

American Naturalists Society honors UW professor

LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — The American Society of Naturalists has presented one of its highest honors to a University of Wyoming professor.

The organization awarded its E.O. Wilson Naturalist Award to Craig Benkman, professor in the UW Department of Zoology and Physiology.

The award recognizes mid-career investigators who have made significant contributions to the knowledge of a particular ecosystem or group of organisms.

Benkman was cited for his decades of year-round field study, aviary experiments and quantitative syntheses that have produced an exceptional body of work on the ecology and co-evolution of seed predators.

To date, Benkman is credited with 73 publications appearing in scientific journal. He has garnered more than $1.5 million in federal, state and private funds.

ELK FEEDING

Supplemental feeding starts at National Elk Refuge

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) — Biologists say forage conditions at the National Elk Refuge have slipped to the point that they have to begin supplemental feeding of elk and bison this winter.

The winter feeding program is set to being today. Officials say there are about 6,000 elk and about 600 currently wintering on the refuge.

Refuge managers try to keep supplemental feeding to a minimum to reduce the time bison and elk are concentrated on the feed lines to reduce the potential for disease transmission.

WYOMING WEATHER

Cold, snow back in Wyoming this week

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming is seeing another shot of bitter cold and snow this week.

The National Weather Service says temperatures this week will be 20 to 30 degrees below normal as Arctic air plunges through the state.

High temperatures tomorrow will struggle to reach zero in many areas.

Tomorrow night lows in the 10 to 20 below range will be common.

Temperatures aren't expected to warm up again until this weekend.

Meantime, light snow is falling throughout the state, causing slick conditions on many roads and highways.

COAL LEASES

Senator: US coal sales might have cost taxpayers

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Congressional investigators have found problems with federal coal sales that a leading lawmaker says might have cost taxpayers $200 million or more in lost revenue.

U.S. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts says his office determined public coal sales could have yielded the additional revenue and possibly much more. Markey says the sales should be suspended pending reforms.

A sweeping examination of the Interior Department's coal-leasing program was released today by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

It shows investigators uncovered widespread inconsistencies in how the government values public coal reserves that are leased to private mining companies.

More than 40 percent of U.S. coal production comes from public lands. Exports to lucrative Asian markets have surged in recent years, stirring concern that companies could be shortchanging taxpayers.

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